Volunteers to Participate in Wearable Navigation Experiment

Recruitment of Volunteers to Participate in Wearable Navigation Experiment

Our team at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is testing a device that could potentially help people who are blind and visually impaired people. Although our system is designed for people who are blind and visually impaired, we will recruit both sighted and blind and visually impaired subjects. Sighted subjects will be 18 to 65 years old, healthy, have no history of neurological disorder/disease, have normal or corrected-to-normal vision and hearing. Aside from lacking vision, blind subjects will be similar, with minimal comorbidities that would interfere in study participation.

You will be compensated for your time at the rate of $15 per hour of participation for behavioral experiments, with standard MIT travel compensation rate if long distance or special needs of mobility challenges related to blindness.

If chosen, you will be asked to sit, or stand blindfolded in an indoor testing space with objects not causing danger, such as cardboard boxes, movable chairs, or soft yoga balls. Blind participants may use white canes together with the proposed wearable system. You will use the devices to traverse a path, localize or avoid an obstacle, in controlled replications of real-world mobility behaviors such as obstacle avoidance, way finding, shore lining, person following, passable gap judgment, and curb/stair detection.

We hope you will join us to improve the safe mobility for people who are blind and visually impaired. If you are interested, please apply at this link:http://goo.gl/forms/MJunA7VPkx